Sam’s Club Vs. Costco Comparison: My Review

My wife and I are regular Costco shoppers. The membership warehouse has become one of the three grocery brands that we get most of our groceries from, pulling in at the #2 spot behind Trader Joe’s in annual spend these days. If we could get an even greater share of our groceries there, we would, but sometimes 96 ounce jars of mayo just aren’t practical.

I had always been curious about Sam’s Club, but had never given the chain a chance. With the recent AmEx promotion giving targeted AmEx customers a free Sam’s Club membership (in the form of a statement credit), we had nothing to lose. So, we decided to give it try, in the hopes that it could provide some nice staple complements to the items we regularly stock up on at Costco.

Now that I’ve shopped at both chains, I thought readers might have an interest in a Sam’s Club versus Costco review. So I’ve assembled one. I didn’t want to just provide my opinion, but wanted to really dig in to compare things like membership fees, return policies, branded credit cards, payment methods, hours of operation, number of locations, service offerings, item quality, price, and quantity, and even relationship with employees.

What follows is my take on the Sam’s Club vs Costco debate. I’d love to see yours in the comments as well.

Membership Fees:

A lot of the value of being a member is dependent on the perceived value you get from the price of membership. However, we’re just going to compare here on straight up price, not value (since everyone has a slightly different perceived value).

Costco membership cost: $60 for the basic “Gold Star” or “Business” memberships, and $120 for the upgraded “Executive” version of each, which offers enhanced perks, including cash back rewards of 2% (up to $1,000) on qualified Costco purchases.

Sam’s Club membership cost: $45 for the basic “Sam’s Saving” and “Business” memberships, and $100 for “Plus”, which offers enhanced perks, including cash back rewards of $10 for every $500 spent in qualifying purchases (up to $500 annually). Sam’s also offer “early shopping hours” for Business and Plus members, which is a nice perk.

Winner: Sam’s Club. If we’re looking strictly at price alone, you have to give the nod to Sam’s Club on this one, at all membership levels. Note that the enhanced membership for Costco offers a higher cap on cash back ($1,000 vs. $500), but you’d have to spend over $10K annually for that to even make a difference. That’s more than I’d recommend spending at any one retailer.

Return Policies:

Costco’s and Sam’s Club return policies can be found here, respectively:

Winner: Costco (slight edge). Both Costco and Sam’s Club have refreshingly generous return policies, which makes shopping at either a huge perk. For starters, both offer full refund on the cost of membership if you are unsatisfied with it. Both offer return of items at any time. There are some items that come with time restraints at both retailers for good reason (i.e. electronics, cigarettes, and alcohol). Where Costco gets the slight edge is that they have a much shorter list of non-returnable items or items that must be returned within a time frame.

Branded Credit Card Perks:

For this comparison, I think it’s important to look strictly at how the card benefits you at the retailer, versus it’s other perks.

$0 annual fee (cash back reward check only goes to Sam’s Club members)

5% cash back at U.S. and Puerto Rico gas stations and on gas at Sam’s Club (on first $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1% on purchases after)

3% cash back on dining and travel

1% cash back on other purchases

Winner: Costco. The Sam’s Club credit card has a really sweet perk in 5% cash back at all gas stations that might make it worthwhile, even if you don’t regularly shop at Sam’s (note: to get cash back rewards, you must be a Sam’s Club member). However, if we’re weighing the value of these cards on their connection to the retailer, the 2% cash back at Costco and Costco.com is a huge perk that stands out between the two cards, as it doubles the 1% you would get at Sam’s with the Sam’s Club MasterCard. The Costco card rewards improvement emerged from the huge shift from AmEx to Citi earlier this year.

Winner: Sam’s Club. Costco’s move to Visa (all cards) should result in easier payment for a lot of customers (versus AmEx exclusivity previously), however, Sam’s Club accepts the four major credit card providers: AmEx, Visa, Discover, and MasterCard.

Number of Locations:

Number of locations is less important than proximity to your residence. Be that as it may, more locations increases the potential that there will be a closer location to your residence.

Winner: Sam’s Club. Sam’s offers longer hours on Saturday and the early shopping hours for Plus and Business members.

Item Quantity:

Costco item selection: Costco claims to carry only about 4,000 SKU’s. For the size of their warehouses, this is somewhat hard to believe, but they focus on fewer items as part of their strategy of focusing on quality.

Sam’s Club item selection: Sam’s Club hasn’t shared the number of SKU’s that they carry, however, it is clear that they pack significantly more SKU’s into their locations than Costco does.

Winner: Sam’s Club.

Item Quality:

Costco item quality: Costco’s choice to limit (and even cut back) their SKU’s has allowed them to focus more on quality of item. Costco’s food and alcohol selection (if that’s your thing) includes a strong lineup of generic “Kirkland” branded products, which are typically very high quality. I created a Costco alcohol price list for those who are curious.

Sam’s Club item quality: while Sam’s Club did carry a few higher end products and organic options, I found the overall selection here to be limited compared to Costco. If name brand products is your thing (I wouldn’t recommend it), you will be much happier with the familiar brands at Sam’s Club. If organic and healthy options are your thing, you will not. Random related note: I bought a giant container of black pepper at Sam’s Club that absolutely ruined a few dishes due to its poor taste. I just don’t think that would happen at Costco.

Winner: Costco. I tend to be pretty judicious when it comes to what I put in my body and Costco’s food selection is much more focused on items that are organic, with simple natural ingredients with less preservatives and fillers, and raised with a more sustainable focus (i.e. hormone-free, cage-free, grass-fed dairy, meat, and eggs). At Sam’s Club, there is much more of a focus on popular brands, which non-coincidentally often have much less healthy ingredients, in general.

Item Price:

Winner: Inconclusive (but possible slight edge to Costco). This one is tough because of the difference in product selection and product attributes. Costco has fewer SKU’s and generally higher quality products, which makes price comparisons difficult, if not impossible. I actually brought in my Costco receipts and used my phone to compare prices on similar items (i.e. similar volume and qualities such as organic).

Costco does have a notably larger selection of products with its high-value generic “Kirkland Signature” store brand, whereas Sam’s Club is much more focused on popular (and often overpriced) name brands. I think that’s important to note.

In a very limited sample size, I found Costco to come out ahead about 2 out of every 3 apple-to-apple comparisons (excluding brand name). Could this be due to limited SKU (which cuts cost for the company)? It’s possible. But I don’t have a broad enough sample size to conclude this definitively. And every individual shoppers results are going to vary based on their purchase preferences.

Services:

Buying groceries is one thing, but what about other service based product offerings? These are membership retailers, so the service part of the deal is important to a lot of members. Here’s what they both offer:

Winner: Tie. Do the lists look similar? They are. I’d give Costco the slight nod in group insurances offered and Sam’s the nod in other business services. Other than that, they are strikingly identical, right down to the types of foods offered in the in-store restaurant and their prices (frozen yogurt and pizza, FTW!).

Employee Pay & Benefits:

Last but not least, I think it’s important for any consumer to place a value on how well the businesses they frequent choose to treat their rank and file employees in terms of pay, benefits, work hours, holidays, and more.

Winner: Costco. Without getting full PTO details and insurance costs, it’s difficult to fully compare the benefits package between the two. But when it comes to pay (at least in the samples that have reported their pay to a 3rd party), Costco is the clear winner, with cashiers making almost 50% more and stock staff making about 25% more, on average, than their Sam’s Club counterparts. It’s also been said that Costco pay increases happen more frequently and there is a much higher cap than with Sam’s Club/WalMart employees. Additionally Costco employees don’t have the potential to get drawn into extended morning and Saturday hours as Sam’s Club employees do, or 3 additional holidays to work (Memorial, Independence, and Labor Days). And then there’s reputation. Costco has been said to treat employees very well, while WalMart has a long history of the opposite (and only just recently raised employees to the $10 pay level).

Sam’s Club Vs. Costco: Overall Verdict

Winner: Costco.

If the name of the game is saving money and you don’t care too much about the ingredients in the foods that you put into your body, you may be able to save some money at Sam’s Club. And you may have a little more luck finding the product type you are looking for. Sam’s also gets the nod in hours of operation and membership cost ($10 savings per year).

It’s worth noting that even though I’ve been a loyal Costco customer, I visited Sam’s Club wanting it to succeed (the more cheap foods for me to stock up on, the better!). However, having shopped at both and doing significant research for this article, I simply like Costco much more. Their huge selection of generic Kirkland brand products provide an excellent value, and their foods are more focused on quality and health. I come away from Costco with a full cart of products every time, but with Sam’s, I could only find a few handfuls of products that I felt good about purchasing. I feel much better about maintaining a cost of membership at Costco and don’t believe I will renew my membership at Sam’s unless they significantly increase their organic selection in the next year. The Costco Visa, with its 2% cash back rewards at Costco is another huge perk. Additionally, Costco pays and treats its employees better, which makes me feel more positive about being a customer.

Update: in light of the January, 2018 news of Sam’s Club closing 63 stores and laying off 10,000 employees without warning, I feel even more strongly about this verdict, and highlighted how to get your Sam’s Club membership fee refunded and switch to Costco.

57 Comments

I’m all about efficiency.. There are many things I won’t buy at Sams simply because of quality.. but the things I do get there I go because it used to be really quick.

You can place orders online and walk in and pick it up without dealing with the store and shopping around other people. Saves a few hours easily…

HOWEVER, the store I typically go to has been dropping the ball lately and can’t get this one simple thing right… So my renewal for 2017 is currently in Question. Perhaps I’ll look at Costco as an option..

I’ve never been to a Sam’s Club, but the quality of Costco items (especially Kirkland Signature) for the price seems unbeatable. My husband and I also frequently buy clothing at Costco; I think I’m slowly replacing my entire wardrobe with Costco-bought stuff. I get the feeling that, in any given product category, whoever is choosing which SKU’s to stock takes extra care to make sure they’re choosing something of very high quality and reasonable price for their customers. It’s like having a personal shopper in that you don’t have to worry too much about whether it’ll be a good product or not. What I’m feeling from your post is that Sam’s Club doesn’t follow that model.

I still have a bone to pick with you about the organic thing! How have you not figured out yet that organic produce/meats are no different, health-wise, than non-organic counterparts? And don’t even get me started on so-called “non-GMO” products… It’s all marketing nonsense.

I agree that the whole GMO aversion is a load of bull. However, the argument between the difference of buying organic vs. inorganic would be a great article to write next! I’d be curious for the breakdown in that…

On the second paragraph, we’ll have to agree to disagree. The jury is still out on GMO’s, but you can’t tell me that spraying pesticides/herbicides (that are toxic and designed to kill living organisms) all over produce has zero impact on the ecosystem and the animals and humans that eat them. Organic clearly has less of an impact. And if I can get organic food at Costco for less than most people pay for non-organic, why wouldn’t I? It’s not always about the money.

@GEMIller The jury is not still out on GMOs. There is a global scientific consensus that GM is no more dangerous than modification through other breeding methods. The same scientific agencies that you trust on issues such as anthropogenic climate change and vaccine safety/efficacy also concur that GMOs are safe.
Many transgenic plants (like Bt soy) actually reduce the need for pesticides and enable environmentally friendly practices like no-till farming. Organic cultivation also uses pesticides, including many which are more toxic than their conventional counterparts.
As a regular reader for many years I urge you to question your preconceptions and research this subject further with an open mind.

I would like to just point out California as an example of pesticides being a danger to the community, the environment, animals, important insects, and people in general. I lived in California for almost 2 years when I turned 18 and I immediately realized that there are barely any birds insects that are beautiful. Hardly ever saw a bee, hardly ever saw butterflies, people are sick almost all the time there not just because of the air pollutants it’s also because the chemicals they spray on their oranges everything else that they grow. And then here recently I was dating a trucker for a little while and was able to go on some runs with him. We had to bring bees into California. Apparently they have to do this regularly because the bees are being killed by all the pesticides. It’s ridiculous! And then we put this into our body, these things that are killing all of these animals and insects and birds and I choose organic because I don’t believe that we should be putting these things in our body. I just wanted to give California as a good example and how you are correct. There will always be people who disagree with it because they believe it’s just the government trying to get us to spend more money or whatever. But ultimately science has proven time and time again organic is better. And the prices for organic versus non-organic are getting so close in a range anyways so don’t know how it’s a marketing technique anymore lol.

My sister-in-law’s father is a farmer and rancher selling “organic” products and the supposedly better for you, and them, meats. Guess what? They aren’t He does everything he says he doesn’t and gets away with it due to lack of proper regulation. Until there is consistent and proper regulation you have no idea what you are truly getting.

Won’t repeat what others have already said but I will add that organic most certainly does use pesticides.
Organic is a huge multi-billion dollar industry. Not as big as traditional ag but still very large. They have lobbyists and use deceptive marketing just like everyone else.
They want you to think that organic = pesticide-free. It’s not true. The pesticides that organic uses are still toxic and often times more toxic than the synthetic alternatives.
Also, the idea that organic has less of an impact is definitely not true either. Organic crops have lower yield than traditional which means more land, more chemicals, and more work (= more CO2 emissions) are required to produce the same amount of food as conventional ag.

@GBL Organic just generally tastes better and smells better. And the research favoring organic food seems to to be of much higher quality and with far fewer flaws than research favoring food that is not organic. Also I very much agree with your first paragraph:)

There’s no conclusive scientific evidence showing that organic is any “healthier” than non-organic counterparts, which is frequently implied in this blog. As far as the “tasting and smelling better,” this seems to be subjective as I’ve found the opposite to be true. Now, I’ll buy organic if it’s a better deal or if it’s a product I particularly want for some reason, but not when there is a perfectly good, less-expensive non-organic equivalent.

It may or may not be true about the nutritional part. but what I can say is that I started getting Blue Apron, which is all organic, and the taste cannot be beat. There are fruits and vegetables I never really liked, like pears and plums, bok choy, chard and other greens, which have a whole different taste. delicious is all I can say. Plump, sweet juicy plums compared to the hard, tasteless variety (non-organic). Even apples and oranges are so much more juicy and delicious. Yes, its more expensive, but now I cant go back to the old tasteless variety. At 74 I was completely taken aback with the difference. I thought I was imagining how good food was all those years ago.

You could have saved a lot of time by just informing your readers that Sam’s Club is owned and operated by Walmart and that both should be avoided on principle because of both their quality and business practices.

That isn’t going to happen. They hire people that need a second job, not a career (unless they are management with a college degree). They also give so much to our community. I live in a rural community that appreciates the help given by Walmart. If you can avoid them, do it. But here, we are so happy to have Walmart. The next largest town is 115 miles away. Without them we would have no place to shop. I still have to drive 30 miles.

A very well thought out review! How many people consider the employees when shopping, beside the social responsibility, it is an important indicator of the stores business model and I have seen many reviews of Costco customers and employees who are fiercely loyal to the company. Personally I have visited 2 of each store, the Sams was dirty, my gf walked out because of this; Costco was bright and appeared clean. As for the commenter who doesn’t believe the organic labeling there are many farmers who strive to produce better food and want to protect their [our] environment, they deserve support! Do your own test on a small sample, it will be obvious. There are associations that have guidelines for their members, a little research is needed. This review is an excellent consumer aid, kudos to the author!

I have both Costco and Sam’s Club memberships and I shop at both. About 3 years ago I noticed that many, many fruits and vegetables I bought at Sam’s Club had mold inside the packaging. I noticed this when I got them home and opened them. It was on the bottom. So I returned them with no hassle, but then I started really looking and was surprised to find that most of the products in the fruit sections had mold growing inside the packaging. I just quit buying their produce. I did continue to shop there and especially bought gasoline at the pumps there and the fuel savings alone pays for the membership yearly. No joke on that. I usually save close to $2 every time I fill up at Sam’s over the other local pumps and filling up weekly, well you can do the math. But I do not buy any produce at Sam’s. The nearest Costco to my home is over 20 miles away and Sam’s is just under 2 miles. I still find that Costco has more of what I need and want to buy than Sam’s club, so I make the trip more often now. Just minor planning. Sam’s gets the nod from me on convenience of location and with their lower membership costs and the fact that I do purchase most of my fuel from them means I will keep their card for now. Should they build a Costco in my town, with fuel pumps, Sam’s would be gone. They are a minor convenience at best. I wear 2xL size shirts and rarely can I find any. I swear they stock 2000 shirts in sizes S-XL and only stock 2 shirts in my size. I just quit looking. I find I am buying cereal, printer stuff, candy for work, pens and gasoline. That’s about all I buy there now. And Ike I said, it’s mainly because they are just so near to my house. Great review here. Thanks.

I agree with you. I’m a frequent shopper at Sam’s Club and I always buy their big bag of Iceberg Salad. More times than not the salad is in bad shape and I have to pick through it to find a decent looking bag. I also think Costco’s have more variety of products on the shelves as well.

We have been a member of both whole sale clubs. We just become a member of whichever is available in our area, since we moved several times across the US. Both have an excellent meat products that we buy meat a lot at Sam’s now. If we buy RV in near future, Sam’s credit card is a must have for us, I just don’t like the fact that cash rewords can be redeemed only once a year.

We love Costco! With 5 kids at home, it’s an easy option. We do still shop one other stores for the big sales and stock up on those staples. Like when a pound of whole wheat pasta is .78 cents. (Costco has almost no selection of whole wheat past.) And I love how they run their company. They have a strong customer first mentality.

Lol I was in there with my husband and I forgot something so I went to the back to get it. We had more than $500 worth of groceries so he started loading it on the Belt. When he got up to the front of the line the cashier snapped at him and said this is not your membership you’ll have to go to the membership desk. He replied oh that’s my wife’s card she’s just grabbing something she’ll be right up here just start ringing. The gal said no, within seconds I arrived and she said oh now I can bring it. He told her what she could do with it I was confused because I wanted to stuff. He refuses to shop at Costco cuz he says they got attitude LOL. Interesting enough a similar thing happened at Sam’s Club and the cashier told him he look nothing like his picture. I’m just saying. Besides that Sam’s Club comes in in my opinion at least 5% less expensive than Costco period especially now that they just jacked up their memberships again. Definitely prefer Sam’s Club

As an employee at Sam’s Club the review comparisons are so true ! Me and the people I work with wish home office and the managers cared just a little about the employees instead of just themselves. Sams truly does keep taking away benifits and pay each year. Don’t let the new 10 hr for new hires fool you. All they did was take that away from other benifits. So they are not paying out more to employees. The attitude of managers when they don’t make the sales that they want, take it out on the employees while wanting the work of a full crew to be done with only a half of a crew. This is not just some mad employee mouthing off. This is years of consistent patterns and attitudes send and noticed by many ! The LOVE of money is the root of all evil…..( 1 Tim 6:10 )….Businesses need to make a profit but when morality, ethics’s, right and wrong, truth, commen sense and Godly principals are forgotten and get throne out and it’s all done for personal gain, well then you know your working at Sams Club. True capitalism that should work for both employees and employers gets perverted by the greed of the people in power.

We have both clubs. But for me Sam’s wins when comes to check out on busy days and holidays. My reason is so very simple. Sam offers a scan and go app. I don’t have to wait in long lines where usually it’s hot. I don’t have to unpack just to have it repacked. I scan as we put in cart, already have payment on the app. By pass all the long lines and out the door. Did once with neighbors. Started same time with them waiting and me scan and go. I was home and unpacked having a cold beer when they pulled in.

“Scan and Go” is so amazing, except when it comes to scanning those pesky bananas.

Overall, I prefer Costco due to the quality of the produce and food compared to Sam’s, but I currently live in an area that only has Sam’s. If Costco were to move in to the area, the only thing holding me back would be the Scan and God app (and the “frequently ordered” website feature where you can quickly load up a cart and pick it up later, saving a bunch of shopping time).

For me Sam’s Club wins! Gas is cheaper than Costco, The national brands are about 5% cheaper, Better meat than anywhere else. I agree Costco has better organic options and gluten free but they are jacking their prices for memberships again! I probably will not renew next time $60 bucks or $115 when both are $15 bucks cheaper at Sam’s and I can use scam and go, or wait in LONG lines at Costco it’s a no brainer. I do wish Sam’s paid their employees better.The ones at the club I go to really are GREAT.and the store is always clean.

You didn’t review the scan & go app at Sam’s club. The fact that you can scan your items and check yourself out without ever waiting in a line other than the receipt check is amazing and a deal-breaker in the Costco v. Sam’s club debate.

I’ve been a Sam’s club business plus member for 15+ years.
Every 2-3 years I go with a neighbor to Costco to reevaluate.
My Sam’s club & Costco are in Maryland & SW Florida. Same experience at both. Easy h very close to the other.

Still with Sam’s. It’s never been close.
My time is worth a lot. So getting 2 weeks shopping done and driving away in 30 minutes during early business hour is fantastic.
The new, to me, Shop & Go app is pretty amazing and efficient also.

Meat, fruit, veggies, bread, milk, eggs are frequently on my list. Very competitive pricing.
Fruit, I check carefully before I buy. I like that I can pop open a grape container and taste a grape before buying. Costco fruits are sealed by the CIA I think.

Parking, not mentioned in the article, but important to me that there be parking.
Sam’s club huge parking lots. Easy to get a space on the busiest days.
Costco undersized lots. Always a problem finding a space. Even just after they open I ended up parking a block away.

Sam’s does have a great quality house brand, Member’s Mark. Limited number of products.

Regarding employees. Wal-Mart & Sam’s club are so bad I hear no one works there any more.
Oops, forgot they are the largest employer in the U.S..
Many of the employees at my Sam’s club have been there for 10+ years.

When you compare Costco gasoline with that of Sam’s Club, you need to realize that Costco sells Top Tier gasoline whereas Sam’s Club does not. Consequently, the quality of the gasoline at Costco is better than that at Sam’s Club.

The biggest negative to Costco, I have both memberships, is the crowd. In my area, it’s like a meat market. Hard to get around the store and very long lines at the register. At Sam’s everyone is laid back and I can move around much more freely. Comfort when shopping is a big plus for me. I’ve actually left Costco and went straight over to Sam’s because it was jut too crowded. Other than that, I go to Sam’s for the meat, gas, and water. Everything else is a Costco item.

I am a member of both Sam’s Club and Costco. I will not be renewing my Sam’s club membership this year and here’s why!
It all started when we purchased a Serta iComfort king mattress set online from Sam’s Club. After having the bed 2.5 years, we had a warranty claim. The bed sagged severely and couldn’t be slept on anymore. The customer service people on the phone were very nice, but the follow through was extremely poor. August 14th, 2017 this fiasco started. It took multiple calls and emails to get them to finally order MXD shipping company to pick up, but the invoice was written to pick up only one item, the mattress. The company would not take the boxsprings 🙁 It took another month of me calling and emailing and finally calling MXD back and the shipping company had to all Sam’s Club and remind them that they needed to put an additional order in for them to pickup the boxsprings. I felt that Sam’s club thought it was somehow my fault that they did not properly order the return of the set. Now it is October 31st and I talk to Andrew this time, and he tells me that the manual refund had not gone to the proper department and he promised me that he did it properly and that Hailey, a corporate agent would contact me to finalize my manual refund by Friday, November 3rd. Needless to say she didn’t. So, I spend my Friday night calling the Sam’s 800 number THREE times, because we were disconnected twice as I waited on hold. The 3rd time I talked to Broderick and he gave me the number to call the Sam’s Serta people directly. The number 888-287-5343 asks for some password, clearly the wrong number. So now I don’t have the $2000 bed I bought and no refund and it doesn’t seem that I will ever get one.

So let me get this straight…. You have a 2.5 year old bed that needs warranty replacement and you are angry with SAMS and not the manufacturer? It isn’t a SAMS club issue. So if you buy a cell phone at SAMS and COSTCO do you expect them to get involved if it fails within the warranty period? A 10 year bed warranty is on Serta and not SAMS or COSTCOs responsibility!

A brief story. When we first moved to San Diego (1974) we began shopping at Fedmart, a discount no-frills department/supermarket store that offered excellent value – the brainchild of Sol Price. Within a year or so it was bought out by a German company that tried to class it up and ended up in bankruptcy.

Sol Price then pioneered the very successful low price, high volume membership warehouse – Price Club – at Morena Blvd in San Diego. It was an instant success and expanded rapidly to hundreds of stores. Noting it’s success, a competitor, Costco, started up in 1983 and also expanded rapidly. In 1993 Costco and Price Club merged into what is today’s Costco.

We have shopped at Price Club and later Costco since 1976 – 41 years – and it is our go-to place for most items unless the sizes are too large to avoid spoilage.

We have developed a strong respect for Costco’s philosophy of quality and value. We know that we can return almost anything we buy there that doesn’t satisfy us or live up to it’s claims but we rarely find it necessary. Thanks to the cash back on their store cards (AMEX and now Visa) we have earned $300 to $500 rebates every year (Executive members). We have also used the Costco discount auto buying program which provided a stress free discounted vehicle purchase on three occasions.

If I had to boil down our relationship with Costco – it would be one word: TRUST.

I do agree with other commenters that Costco’s long lines at times are annoying and off-putting but since we are retirees, we can shop there when it is least crowded and we don’t experience the long delays, so not a significant factor for us. I must say that the Sam’s Club Scan and Go feature described by others sounds great and I wish Costco would adopt it.

Scan and Go is so amazing. I hate standing in lines, but love zipping around people checking out (and knowing the exact cost of the items in my cart). If Costco adopted it (and moved into my area), I’d switch immediately.

I’d kill for a Costco in my area. Sam’s Club employees aren’t happy and it shows. If it weren’t for the fuel discount price I would have dropped them after the first of numerous rude encounters. Sam’s Club is at best a clean Walmart (In my area that is a insult of the first order). Disgruntled employees and lazy supervision. As much as I hate to I have been throwing my hard earned money at Amazon. I chafe at giving money to a retailer that’s ambivalent or downright uncivil about receiving it.

We used to be Costco members but switched to Sam’s Club a few years back. We get bonus points when we use are Credit Union Master Card but it’s not accepted at Costco. Most of the products that we purchase are basically the same at both stores. As far as location they are both right next door to each other.

My Sams is one that is closing. It was located between 2 decent size cities. The manager said last year was the best year they ever had, but somehow they still closed it. It was always packed with customers when we went. Now our only option is to drive the next city over to to get to a location. There is also a Costco near the Sams. I’ll be taking my business to Costco from now on, and try to avoid Walmart also. Sam’s has definitely upset ALOT of people in our city.

I’ve been a member of Costco since 2004 and I will not renew this year. #1 reason: Sam’s has early opening hours for members at $100 level. I do all of my shopping at 8:00am as soon as I drop the kids at school. I frequently have the whole store to myself! #2 reason is self-checkout (or Sam’s scan & go app). Sorry, Costco. I’m not waiting in line and I’m not going to shop with the crowds!

Let me say up front that my wife and I, far and away, prefer Costco over Sams. So, we are biased, and we’ll admit that. That said, I found this article unfair against Sams based on three things:

First, when counting category wins, Sams wins 5-4 with two “ties” (a declared tie and an “inconclusive,” which I’m equating to a tie). Yet, you declare Costco the winner.

Second, your overall tone indicates a clear bias toward Coscto despite an attempt to be fair. For example, you repeatedly call the “Kirkland” brand “high end,” implying Sams store brand is low end. Also, the extreme emphasis on Costco’s organic foods implies Sams does not have or does not care about organic foods, Additionally, and the overall word choice indicate a less-than-fair comparison.

Third, I read your bio and it seems you don’t have kids. Many of us do, and that is a major, MAJOR, factor in choosing things, and not just foods. What about toiletries, soaps, household items? What about clothing? What about gasoline price differences? You need to consider readers who have families with kids (we have three). Your article seems geared toward younger people without kids who are bachelors or newly married, rather than most of the world with kids.

All that said, we agree that Costco is better and here’s why: the quality is a major factor for us. Something may cost less up front, but if you have to replace it more often, you end up spending more. Also, service matters. Sams feels like Walmart on steroids, and our experience with the Walmart Corp is that they have less than poor service (which is also why we prefer Target over Walmart). These factors alone led us to choose Costco over Sams.

Sams Scan and go has been the best innovation offered of any place of business that I have ever shopped at. Couple that with Costco limiting the cards they accept, not open on a few major holidays Sams is, hours of operation earlier if needed and it’s hard for me to accept that Costco cares more about their customers than Sams. And BTW, paying employees more doesn’t always mean the customer get treated any better. I am also an avid golfer and the Kirkland golf ball fiasco infringing on major golf ball manufacturer copy write of their product all ads up to enough reason to pay $15 less for a Sams vs Costco yearly membership. BTW, Sams quality of meat and meat prices are every bit as good if not better than Costco. I do not like having to by such large quantities of a lot of food items makes both companies wasteful for the average consumer at home whom are the most frequent purchasers.even if the price per can or per ounce is cheaper than the grocery store. But if it expires or goes to waste or the family just didn’t like it enough to eat the large quantity, the price maybe isn’t as good as it seems.

FOLLOW 20SF ON:

LIKE 20SF ON FACEBOOK:

SEARCH THE SITE:

This site provides general info & entertainment & should not be considered financial advice. Consult an independent financial advisor for your specific situation. Per FTC guidelines, this site may be compensated by companies mentioned through advertising & affiliate partnerships.

Join 10,000+ wealth builders. Get posts emailed to you, for free.

Thank you for subscribing!

Oops... Please try again.

We respect your privacy. Your personal information will not be sold or shared.